The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Four
by mel.wolfgirl
Summary: LeahxOC pairing. Very AU after Eclipse. "Scratches in the darkness, closer now, much closer. She is alone...and alone she isn't enough. She is so afraid." ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER LC: BRADY.
1. Epilogue

**A/N** Welcome back to The Imprinted Chronicles! Since it's easy to get into a pattern of writing, I'm doing things a little differently this time. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I will say this: B4 is a **Thriller/Horror** style fan fiction. It will be **action/violence/sex heavy**, and very much in need of the mature rating. Oh, and I would say prepare to be frustrated. Lol. A LOT.

**If you didn't read B3 or pay attention to the Old Pack scenes, this story is NOT for you. If you have set preconceptions of what an imprint fic should be or how Leah Clearwater should be written, this story is NOT for you**.

If I haven't lost you yet…*smiles* Have fun.

_**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Four**_

_**Epilogue**_

_Jake_-

There's a pretty damn big possibility that you're not going to get this letter. But if you do get this, it's going to piss you off. Do me a favor, okay? Don't take it out on Chóˀchoˀ. None of this shit is his fault and he's a good wolf. He saved your imprint's life… since you're the Alpha, that should mean something. Anyways, you're going to hate this, but you're going to have to trust me when I say this.

_Don't come down here_. And please, don't let Seth come down here either.

I'm not going to say why, but one day you guys will figure it out. I'm hoping by then…well…by then you should know what to do. Just be who you are, be strong, and I have faith that it'll be enough. It has to be. I know, I know, this cryptic bullshit would drive me nuts too. Just tell Seth to keep smiling, that's a lot harder than what I did for so long. And tell Mom...just tell her I get it now. She'll know what I mean. I should have said this more, he probably could have really used it, but tell Sam I love him. So fucking much. Tell him that I want him to be happy, and that shit…it doesn't always turn out the way we think it's going to.

I know this is short and that's bullshit, but we can't wait any longer. I have to go. Don't come down here, Jake, it's more important than you could ever know. And Jake? Thanks for proving her wrong. It gives me…strength, I think.

I know it wasn't always easy between us all, but I love everyone. Thanks for…well…everything.

-_Leah _


	2. Unknown

_**The Imprinted Chronicles: Book Four**_

_**Chapter: Unknown**_

It was always the fan that woke her.

Slowly rotating above the bed, the third blade slightly twisted and creaking with every pass. The small motel room was dark, the shades pulled because he liked it better that way. Better than eyes through the window. Better than voices in the night.

The wolf slept next to her, his breathing low and controlled, his muscles deceptively relaxed. Deceptive because the smallest noise would have him moving. Deceptive because those muscles were strong, and he was fast. Deadly, this one, she had seen him kill before, seen the lack of emotion in his eyes when he did. He had considered killing her, and she should probably be afraid. She should probably be afraid, but it was the fan and not he that had awoken her.

She closed her eyes and slept instead.

* * *

><p>They learned early to watch what stories they told.<p>

As she relaxed in front of the firelight, her sister's head on her thigh as the younger she-wolf dozed, Leah Clearwater regarded this Pack through cautious, but territorial eyes. What they counted as legends, she had counted as her Packmate. What they counted as one of their greatest enemies, she counted as a former lover, and for both of the she-wolves, a friend.

The first time that she and her sister had taken…_exception_ to Kalísoliyáť's stories, the she-wolves had shown these old wolves just why it was that those of the Tlokwali should be respected, even in lesser numbers. These were men that fought their enemies constantly, their bodies wrapped in deeply scarred muscle, their eyes filled with a wary alertness no matter who it was that stood in their midst. A man could only be in battle so long before it changed him, hardened him, shifted him from what he had always been to what he would now always be.

At the foothills of the Argentine Andes, twelve of fourteen men gathered about their fire and tried to remember what it was that had driven them here, what it was that drove them to stay. The fear in their eyes always lingered, even amongst the bravest of them, even amongst the hardest of them.

Tell their stories if they must, to remember. Tell their stories if they must, but careful, old wolves…careful what you say.

As she lounged in front of the fire, only half listening to the words the Alpha spoke, Leah was aware that Shípaawí had settled himself even closer to her than normal, close enough that she could reach out and touch his ankle without straightening her arm. The sixth strongest wolf in the Argentine Pack, Awí was the one drawn the most to herself and her sister. Similar, these wolves, so similar that sometimes even their scents blended together, making one hard to separate from the other. But Awí was the oldest wolf here, older than the Alpha, and his own blood sister had been Tlokwali she-wolf before the day…the day that everything had changed. It was his eyes that watched them the closest, his form that never strayed too far from their sides.

The fact that a weaker wolf had set himself Leah's protector amused Taye, that sharp bitterness that separated their young beta from the rest of his Pack showing through in his eyes when he looked at them. They were all hard men, this Pack, but rarely bitter. They died for a cause that they believed in, and there was still hope in their deaths, a hope that Taye did not share. Awí was quiet and kind, and he would give wide berth to the beta in most things. But the she-wolves were few, and their Pack now had two under their protection. Not even Taye's dark, self-mocking humor was enough to drive Awí away.

From across the fire, the beta felt her eyes on him, and that slight smirk touched his lips. Most nights he rarely spoke, but he was in a mood this evening. A young wolf that too often turned teeth on his own Packmates. A predator, too large for his cage.

Tall and massively shouldered, with dark hair and darker eyes, Taye was much too familiar, and as such left Leah more unsettled than even this unsettling situation should call for. It was no wonder that her sister would refuse to look directly at anything but Taye's eyes, found herself constantly locked in a dominance game. Taye was too young, too battle hardened to back down.

Privately Leah felt that Sims was quickly becoming the same way.

"Are you protecting her from the fire, Awí?" Taye grunted, his rumbling voice interrupting the rhythmic flow of words from Kalísoliyáť's tongue. "Or from that rock by her knee?"

Shípaawí flushed, a deepening red in his russet colored skin, and he gritted his teeth, careful not to flash them the beta's way. Leah had no such problem, the whites on her bared teeth gleaming in the firelight as she locked eyes with him.

"You're lucky they put up with you, Taye," Sims said softly, warningly, her head still on Leah's leg but her brown eyes now open and gazing across the firelight. A long, curved wolf fang dangled from leather thongs held lightly between her fingers. "In our Pack, a dominant wolf that bullies the others gets run out of the protection of the Pack." Sims paused, and then she smiled cruelly, her own teeth flashing. "I wonder how long you would last out there, all alone?"

Instead of angered, the beta smirked as he rose to his feet in a smooth powerful motion. "I supposed I will have to go see. Unless you want to go first, La Push? Maybe you can phase before they drag you up into the mountains this time."

Sims snarled, rising to her knees, but Leah already had her by the arm, tugging her back down and glancing at her warningly.

"Don't be stupid, Taye," Leah growled, her hand leaving her sister's shoulder as the other she-wolf watched the male wolf. Taye locked eyes with her instead, and Leah wondered who would win this time. If Sims remembered herself, this was their moment. If she didn't, they might have to wait weeks for another.

"Die if you want to," Sims decided, yawning and turning her attention back to the stiffly seated wolves around them. The other she-wolf fingered her wolf tooth thoughtfully. "No one runs alone."

Leah exhaled when she saw her sister's eyes break away first, then she glared at Taye. He met her glare with amusement, and then chuckled. "Guard my imprint while I'm gone, Awí," Taye commanded, still smirking. "And try not to fall in the dirt too many times while you're fawning at her feet."

Leah snarled at that, eyes flashing at the implied insult to herself and the shame in Shípaawí's face. "Be careful who you pick a fight with, pup," Leah snarled and Taye's faced her challengingly. With her speed against his brute strength they were well matched, and it wouldn't be the first time she turned fang his way.

"Be careful who you accept a fight with, Leah," Taye replied, his body language saying that a fight would be good for him this night, and that was his only warning for her. He paced sideways behind his brothers, who ducked their heads and tried not to be noticed. A fight was what he needed, and any way that fight came would be welcome.

The Alpha's voice rose up between them, cutting off the beta's next words. "Shípaawí' meant no disrespect, Taye," Kalísoliyáť said firmly, the rich, heavy tones of _Alpha_ in his words. Chains that bound the Pack to his side. Chains that bound…and would always bind until he died and another took his place. "Run brother, if you must, but stay close enough that we can help you if you need it."

Taye didn't even like that much of an order, and his jaw clenched despite the fact the Alpha was allowing him the freedom he wished. Leah had seen this before, had seen Jake do this very same thing, and Collin too, although lesser with Paul's pup. Taye was too dominant to be easily cowed, too angry to be easily controlled, too powerful to be easily contained.

"I'm sending the watch back here, Kalísoliyáť," Taye growled, suddenly deeply angry. "Kíťsa runs asleep on his feet anyways." The resentment that flashed in his eyes was directed the entire Pack's way, not lessening when his eyes once more found hers. One more tie to something he did not want. One more reason he was forced to stay. He opened his mouth to say something, and Leah deliberately turned her shoulder to him. Sims was already relaxing back into sleep. Denied his attempts to pick a fight, Taye rolled on his heel with a frustrated snarl and slipped away into the darkness.

Leah watched him go, wondered if she should tell him again that patrolling alone in this was stupid, but he already knew it. And he was beta for a reason, so nearly equal with the powerful Alpha still seated on the ground that any day now, Leah believed that Taye would pull free. What then? Where would he go? Would he kill the Alpha that had held him for so long against his will? Would he—

"He will decide as he must," the Alpha rumbled soothingly, always soothingly when it came to Leah and her sister. "It doesn't help that you and your Packmate indulge him in his anger. Be at peace, and it will help him to be the same." And as always, his attempts at comfort struck her as off, made Sims tense where she lay. Too much _Alpha_ in his voice, testing them, pulling at them ever so lightly. Too much Alpha, and an Alpha not their own.

Leah rose to her feet, eyeing Kalísoliyáť warily before slipping off into the night herself. She heard Awí start to follow, loyal despite his shame, but a soft word from Sims stopped him. Leah knew exactly what it was that stalked them in the darkness, and if Taye ran alone... She knew, and she too made her own decisions. She wasn't afraid.

The air was cool tonight, ghosting over her skin like a lover's caress as she paused just outside of the firelight. Back turned to the Pack that they now ran with, Leah peeled the simple cotton dress from her torso, letting it pool on the grass at her feet. Money was tight, even with Sims slipping into town every few weeks to bring back more. Too many mouths to feed, and too few ways to do so honestly. A dresser full of clothing, cash in her pocket, a motorcycle between her thighs. All these things gone, lost beneath her new life. The cost of her freedom was heavy. Leah had known lean times but had never gone without like this.

She folded the cheap fabric up carefully and left it on a rock where the Pack could find it if they had to leave quickly. Several wolves had gone hungry for a week to buy that, and a similar one for Sims. Hungry wolves were weakened wolves. Weakened wolves could die if cut off from the Pack, singled out and taken down the way their enemy was so good at doing. A life wasn't a good enough excuse for a dress, not so that the females could have two sets of clothing to the rest of the Pack's one. Opulence had always annoyed Leah. She had seen too many on the reservation struggling to make ends meet, living their entire lives below poverty level, and while she was happy to have her own (and sometimes nicer) things, wastefulness drove her crazy. But she had never viewed something as small as a cheap piece of clothing as opulent before. Her life had…changed.

A shadow moved off to her right, and Leah went still, nostrils flaring. The scent of the Pack was strong behind her, but in this shadow as well. But even that could sometimes be deceptive.

A soft noise from darkness, almost a whine but rougher for coming from a human throat. Appeasing, so that she wouldn't attack them. A stronger sniff and Leah's nose acknowledged what her brain had already known. Píchakíťsa, the slender wolf with the laughing eyes and the quick, easy smile. Liyáťxálil, coming up behind Píchakíťsa on silent feet. Píchakíťsa, the wolf who would talk to anyone, befriend anyone, care for anyone. Liyáťxálil, the wolf that never said a word, who when at rest never strayed more than a few feet from his Alpha's side, and who kept his thoughts hidden from all when they ran.

One's eyes slipped to her naked body before quickly jerking away, blushing at the indiscretion. The other simply looked, at least until her soft growl told him that she was not interested in playing his games tonight.

"Our beta tells us he runs alone," Píchakíťsa informed her, stepping closer. Closer, always closer, with this Pack. How many times had her snapping teeth been needed to drive them away? Píchakíťsa's brow furrowed worriedly. "Do you run with him, sister?"

Leah had made a habit of not explaining herself to these wolves. They weren't _her_ Pack, after all, but Píchakíťsa was one of the wolves that had gone hungry for this dress, and had gone hungry more often for other reasons. So Leah gave him a tight smile and shook her head. "Your beta's in a mood tonight, Kíťsa," Leah snorted. "Do you think I really want to have anything more to do with him than you do?"

Liyáťxálil grunted, drawing her attention, and Leah frowned at him before returning her eyes to Píchakíťsa. He was shifting uncomfortably, not at all happy. They stayed together here, in pairs at the very least. It was bad enough the beta ran alone, but for her to run as well…

"Don't worry about it," Leah said firmly, cutting off Píchakíťsa's protests before they started. She pressed her dress, so carefully folded, into his hands. "Take this to Awí for me, and ask him to keep it safe. He's had a shitty night and he doesn't deserve it," she added in a low mutter, striding past the two wolves. If Píchakíťsa had not been frightened of upsetting her and earning her fangs in his flesh, he might have followed despite her wishes. Liyáťxálil wasn't afraid of her, but he never moved to stand in her way.

There was safety in the Pack, but danger too. As she allowed the phase to slide over her body, the crystalline sound of bones snapping and reforming, the ripping of muscles and the soft wetness of them rebuilding, the she-wolf once again felt that overwhelming urge to run. It seemed as if it was her nature to be running, that she had never been meant to be any one place. Leah she shook herself, the constrictions of the Argentine Alpha still clinging to her fur like water droplets that would never quite dry up and go away.

Taye decided that her thoughts were poetic for someone who liked to curse every other word she said, and if she was thinking of running, good luck. Kalísoliyáť would never let them leave. The Alpha had far too many plans for all of them.

Leah decided that pup wolves who couldn't keep their temper should be smarter than to press her tonight. If he got within a mile of her, she was going to give him that fight he was looking for.

Amusement, softer and not quite as dark as before. For the moment, he'd stay away.

The grey she-wolf ranged around their campsite, circling further out with every passing. This wasn't how Kalísoliyáť had his Pack patrol, they were taught to quarter back and forth when protecting their own, but Leah wasn't patrolling. She was running, letting the wind fill her lungs and her nostrils, muscles bunching and stretching as she allowed herself to run faster, run farther, fly across the ground as if she herself was the wind over this dry, roughened plains. Belly close to the earth, she laid her ears back and ran even harder, letting herself soar, letting her mind open up to those so far away.

The touch of her Alpha, powerful and sure, but so subtle from the levels of separation between them that she barely knew that he was there. The touch of her brother, fainter still but fiery in a way that she had never known before now. A ghosting in the wind of others, but who they were, Leah couldn't say.

It was clear when Kalísoliyáť had decided she had gone far enough. He was not _her_ Alpha, but Kalísoliyáť's pull on the she-wolf could be brutally strong when he wished it. He usually treated Leah much more softly than this, knew that she was caught in a much finer webbed trap than that of an Alpha. However, when her paws went too far…and she ignored the several small warning tugs her gave her…

Leah whined in pain when the pull slammed her to a stop.

Heavy handed, this Alpha, when he had to be. Leah snarled and fought it, only to have that pull eventually drive her nose to the dirt, then her belly. Trembling, she shivered with the stress of fighting him, gnashed her teeth until she bit her tongue, tasted blood in her mouth. Kalísoliyáť must have phased because when Leah began edging away, crawling on her stomach despite the pain, out of sheer spite and just to prove that she could, he gave her a different imaging instead, one of her crawling all the way back to the fire and spending the night curled up by his feet.

She hated him, Leah decided, although that hate was stronger, more intense as it blended with another's hate. But Kalísoliyáť could do what he threatened, Leah knew. She was strong, but the Alpha was stronger still. Again an image of her at his heel. The abject humiliation of that made her want to kill him, roused her Packmate so far away, and Leah could feel her sister's anger sharpen like the wolf tooth Sims always held.

Kalísoliyáť forced her to back up a step, her every muscle shaking as she fought it. Then another. Abruptly the Alpha's presence was out of her head and the pull stopped, leaving Leah weak and panting on the ground, as if she had run for hours upon hours, with no rest and no food or drink. Whether it had been because Kalísoliyáť had proved his point, or because of something else, Leah didn't know. She did know that when she opened her eyes, a massive wolf was standing near her, his yellowed coat gleaming almost white under the moonlight as he stared silently towards the north. He smelled of another Pack but also of mate, two things far too conflicting for her to understand.

As she rose shakily to her feet, the male wolf raised his muzzle to the stars and howled, a long, eerie cry that rolled over the countryside.

Even though she had planned this, neither one noticed their enemy until it was too late.

* * *

><p>Leah screamed, her voice carrying over the cries and the terrible snarling of the wolves. Wolves were fighting, but she didn't know why. She didn't care why. Fuck, she hurt. This had been the plan, but it <em>hurt<em>. Had Seth felt like this? Had Jack? Had their pain been worse? Could anything be worse?

"Hold her down!"

Funny, she didn't even realize that she had been trying to rise off the ground where they were pinning her. She had phased back to human, though, and she didn't remember that happening. Pain. _So much pain_…

"Kí-kil, hold her down, dammit!"

"I'm trying, just get it out of her! Why are you—why—"

A soft whisper, so soft in her ear that only she could hear it. "I'm sorry, Leah. Hold on."

Pain, and she was screaming again. Screaming as they cut her open, screaming as they dug death out of her chest. Screaming, because Sims was hurting her more than she had to, and doing it deliberately. Screaming, and behind her the fight raged.

Pain. Pain. _Pain_.

* * *

><p>The clock was broken, permanently stuck at five-fifteen. Five-fifteen, when the scent of him flooded through the place that they brought her. Five-fifteen, when he didn't bother to knock on the door before coming in.<p>

Her sister had taken up guard on a chair near the window. Somehow the window was the threat, not the door, even though the threat had just strode in. Leah didn't know how long she had slept on the too hard motel bed (better than they'd slept in this entire journey), or how they had afforded it (there was a flatness in Sims' eyes now, and Leah didn't want to know what that meant). But when she had come awake a few hours ago, it had been dusk instead of dawn, the sun lowering in the sky instead of rising.

She had lost almost a day. Considering what they had cut out of her, much more than a day could have been taken.

Leah rolled over at Taye's arrival, shifting gingerly so that she didn't wrench her shoulder. The pain was bad but was lessening as the wound closed, even if it was knitting itself together roughly. Sims had done what she could with her nearly non-existent training. Híbhibísh could have patched the she-wolf up better, but Leah had the feeling that none of the other wolves were allowed to, or wanted to come too close. Not after last night.

Taye paused in the doorway inhaling deeply. His eyes were like frozen stone, and his rage was barely held in check. He was human now, something that Sims had said hadn't happened in the last day. Her injury had caused them to retreat from their position, to take up safety in the nearest town large enough to hide them. They would lose track of the enemy now, and maybe not find them again for weeks, if not longer. Having been given a headcount of the cost of finding them this last time, Leah knew exactly why the young beta's eyes face was tight with suppressed anger.

Taye wasn't stupid. He knew exactly whose fault this was.

One step forward, and Sims was between Taye and the bed, wolf fang gripped at the ready. Taye looked at the shorter she-wolf, his face growing even colder. "You have one of those things, but I have a mouthful," the male wolf growled, slipping into English the way he always did when alone with the she-wolves. "By the time you could phase, you'd be dead at my feet."

"You could try," Sims spat back, shifting more completely in front of Leah and crouching down, but Leah was already pushing herself up in the bed.

"Stop it, both of you," Leah snapped, cursing as the pain in her shoulder blossomed out across her chest and around her ribcage. "Or get the hell out of my room and kill each other out there."

The pain had made her stupid, and Leah regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. It was too late to take her words back, and right now she wasn't strong enough to stop either one of them. The room fell silent, three young wolves waiting to see who would strike first. Finally Sims straightened and flicked her hand, Jake's wolf fang back in her palm, the leather thongs crisscrossing around her wrist.

"I'll be outside," Sims promised Leah, giving Taye a warning look as she passed by him. His eyes held hers, narrowing until she disappeared out of the room. It was only the imprint bond between them that told Leah that he was more relaxed, now that the door had closed behind her. Outwardly, Taye looked exactly the same. He leveled his cold gaze Leah's way, eyes flickering to the bandage on her shoulder.

"Did they get all of it out?" he asked harshly, folding his arms across his broad chest. The action drew her gaze to the still healing cuts on his forearms and neck, visible where his dark t-shirt left off. Beneath the stretched fabric would be more, many more. One didn't fight an Alpha and walk away unscathed.

Leah snorted, settling herself back down in the bed and picking up the remote control to the television. "What do you think?" she replied, aware of the way his muscles bunched again at the derisiveness of her tone. Oh yes, he was still very angry. "You know, watching television is a lot more fun when you know what they're saying."

Taye grunted at her and remained where he was in the room, not too close to her, but between her and the door. People seemed to be standing between her and other things a lot these days. Lines were being drawn, sides were being taken in this other, equally complicated war. Thus far Leah had been able to stay neutral in between her Packmate and the wolf that imprinted on her, but considering the way they eyed each other distrustfully, Leah was wondering if Switzerland was about to have to pick a side too. She didn't like that, didn't like the fact that she had already picked that side, and hoped they knew to be careful if they forced her hand. Swiss mercenaries were the fiercest, and like she-wolves, it was dangerous to force them to choose.

Hoping that tonight wasn't that night, Leah grimaced and settled on a movie she had seen a few years back, only this time it was spoken in Spanish with Italian subtitles. Neither of which were particularly helpful to a she-wolf who spoke only English and Quileute fluently.

"I think they're talking about butter," she said after a while, frustrated at her need to fill the silence. Too many years living with Seth and her mother, who were always talking. Too many times of Sam standing there silently, not letting her in on whatever it was that was in his head. It pissed her off, and she wished that Taye would just sit down already. His standing in one spot was making her nervous. She glanced over at him and realized that the already angry wolf was absolutely livid now, his arms trembling from shoulder to knuckles. "Are you going to talk, or are you going to stand around like a dumbass, pup?" Leah asked, deliberately goading him.

"Don't fuck with me tonight, Leah," Taye snarled. "And I'll talk when you answer the damn question."

Leah locked eyes with the beta, wished that her shoulder hurt less and that she wasn't so tired. It was hard to hold her own with him on a normal day, but she had never dropped her eyes to him, and she didn't plan on starting now. "Yes," she finally said, letting her lips curl back enough that he could see she wasn't in the mood for _him_ fucking with _her_ either. "They got it all out. Obviously."

He tried to hide the sharp exhale, the flash of something in his eyes, before turning that cold expression back her way.

"They don't always get it all out," he told her flatly, walking to the window and staring out at the early evening sky, crossing his arms back over his chest. "The wounds fester within twenty-four hours and then they begin to rot. When we die…" The young wolf drifted off and then cleared his throat. "It's just a bad way to go," he finished gruffly. "We kill our own when the rot sets in."

Leah blinked at that, and then felt her irritation soften. She had stripped down to her lone tank top and a pair of underwear earlier, but these wolves had seen her in far less, especially him. So she didn't hesitate before pulling the strap of her tank down and peeled off the bandage, exposing part of her breast and grimacing when the fabric stuck to her wound. The flesh was red and angry but still healing together. Swollen, yes, but not hot with fever or dripping infection. Leah had seen enough infection with her brother's wounds to know the difference.

"It's healing and smells normal. Infection smells sweet, Taye," the she-wolf told him, and she noticed that he gritted his teeth before nodding in agreement. He knew that already, and his eyes stayed away from her shoulder. He didn't want to look at it, that much was obvious, wasn't interested in hovering over her and fretting. But the wolf at the window still had shaking hands. Suddenly she understood.

"You came here to kill me," Leah said slowly, eyes widening slightly. "You _imprinted_ on me, Taye. An imprinted wolf can't—"

His low growl cut her off. "I don't give a shit about your legends any more than Kalísoliyáť's legends. No one should have to die badly, and I told myself I'd put you down if it was festering," the beta told her, jaw tight. "When we were in bed, or later, when you were sleeping. The others wait too long, make our brothers suffer. Whatever, it doesn't matter, now. Forget it."

But it did matter. Leah didn't know him well, wasn't sure she wanted to know him at all. He was an asshole, harsh to the ones around him to a point that she sometimes hated him for it. But he had proven his strength to her before, and from the relief that he was trying to hide, he was strong enough that he could kill her if she needed him to. He could kill her, and more than that, he _would_ kill her. The knowledge left her shaken, and angry at herself for it. But she didn't want to die badly. She had seen enough already to know the comfort a swift ending could bring.

"Thanks," Leah finally said, and Taye's self-mocking smirk returned to his face.

"For being willing to kill you? No thanks necessary."

Leah growled but then clamped her mouth shut, wondered if she maybe should run screaming from this motel room, decided that the bed beneath her shoulders was worth the possible retribution. So she settled in as best as she could, returning to her movie.

The wolf sat down next to her on the bed, although not before pulling the curtains closed over the single window. Leah watched his eyes dart to her right shoulder, the wounded one, then her left, which was fine but closest to the door. Closest to Sims, who he viewed as a threat. And she was, at least to his Alpha, and subsequently himself and his Pack. Trapping two she-wolves against their wills could be a dangerous thing. Tonight, Kalísoliyáť would have the scars to prove it.

"They're not talking about butter, they're talking about margarine," Taye finally said, settling on her right side. He didn't have quite enough room, so he looked at her. Leah looked back at him, and when his eyes narrowed, she mimicked it before wrinkling her nose and making a face. Taye blinked and she chuckled, turning away.

"Is there a moment when you don't look pissed off?" Leah smirked, shaking her head. "And how do you know what they're talking about? Two semesters of Spanish 101?"

The male wolf snorted and stuck a hand under her right hip, pulling hard enough to tip her over. Leah yelped and then grunted as she went nose down in the covers, her right shoulder jarring painfully as Taye pushed on her rear end and made himself more room.

"Our next door neighbors were Portuguese," Taye told her as she glared at him and righted herself. He didn't help her, not that she would have let him try. "Their son was the only kid in the building my age. He taught me some Spanish growing up. Some of the words are different here, but the Pack only speaks that and Quileute. When you have no other choice, you'd be amazed how fast you pick something up."

Taye paused, and then cleared his throat uncomfortably. "It took me a long time to realize that they think in Quileute, but that I always understood them when I was wolf. It's made learning the language…easier than it should have been."

Leah had settled herself back against the headboard, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye and trying to ignore the dull throbbing pain in her shoulder, the faint nausea that accompanied it. He was breathing through his mouth and not his nose, a stupid thing to do if one was often in danger, but something he did when they sat too close. Denying himself the smell of her. Controlling…what? Himself? His wolf? Or maybe he just thought she stank.

Not that she cared, really. He smelled of old blood and dried sweat, of his Pack and the enemy, of anger. And beneath it all, Taye smelled of confusion, although a lesser nose might not have picked it out from beneath the heavy layer of aggression that lay so thick over everything. But Leah and her brother had always been able to smell their ways to the heart of a matter. Her best friend was not so different, and for all the headache and protective instincts it triggered, Leah was not above using her nose to wade through her Packmates' personalities. But he wasn't her Packmate. He was just…Taye. Someone who would snap her neck if she needed it, if _he_ decided she needed it.

Hell. _Hell_. He wouldn't have even warned her, either.

Lust and respect twisted with fear and resentment, leaving her confused and more than a little aroused. The confusion made her uncomfortable, and the arousal just flat out pissed her off, and she suddenly resented his presence, wanted him gone, wanted all these strange wolves gone so she could be alone amongst her own again.

"Why the hell are you still here, anyways?" Leah snapped, reaching for the glass of water that Sims had left next to the bed. "I feel like shit, so you're not getting any. The rest of your Pack is hiding from us, so you might as well join them."

The beta didn't reply, just watched her as she brought the glass of water to her lips.

Leah took a drink and felt her stomach twist unpleasantly. She hadn't been able to keep anything but water down, and none of the dried green leaves that Híbhibísh had hurriedly pressed into Sims's hands earlier had done anything but mute the pain. The wolf who had helped Sims carry her here hadn't given any instructions in how to use them, so Leah had just chewed them every few hours. There were a couple left, so she reached for one, grimacing as she remembered the taste.

"Here, idiot," Taye grumbled, leaning over her and snagging the leaf from her hand right before she popped it into her mouth. He rolled off the bed and walked to the bathroom, and Leah could hear the water faucet turn on. "Híbhibísh is gonna be pissed if he finds out you've been eating these things," the male wolf told her over the sound of the water filling a Styrofoam cup. "We almost never find them, even when we have time to look."

Taye came back into the room and Leah watched him as he stalked across the thinly carpeted floor, focusing his frown on the microwave. For not the first time, Leah wondered what her Pack would say if they knew. The shape of his brow, the heaviness in his shoulders. How when his eyes were on her, she couldn't look away.

"Heat it up as much as you can without melting the cup," Taye grunted at her, waggling the leaf in his fingers before setting it down on top of the microwave. "Then drop this in and let it seep until it smells like hell. I'm taking a shower." He paused and then said in a quieter tone. "When I'm sure the rot isn't setting in, I'll leave."

There was no point in arguing with him about the shower. When the Pack stopped hiding from her and Sims they would all be doing the same. As for the other…well, it made her uncomfortable but oddly reassured. She didn't want to die badly, and she didn't want her sister to have to end her life. Leah looked at the young wolf across the room, taking him in. They were intimates in some ways, but complete strangers in others.

Wolves left to die alone. Maybe death at the hands of a near stranger was as close as that came.

Taye was still breathing through his mouth, but Leah did use her nose, and she could smell that he was…having trouble right now. She wasn't sure why, but Leah's instincts told her that it was a bad idea to force him away. "If you snore again, your ass is sleeping in the bathtub," Leah growled, lobbing the remote control at him. He caught it one-handed and then took the batteries out, sticking them in his back jeans pocket as he headed for the bathroom again. If he was relieved, or grateful, or anything, it didn't show in her nose or on his face.

Taye was right, the leaf tea did smell like hell and tasted worse too. Even Sims stuck her head inside the door and wrinkled her nose before asking if Leah was okay. Leah was drinking the nastiest thing she could imagine, but she was fine. A low growl from the shower indicated the younger she-wolf's presence wasn't welcome, and Sims smirked before walking into the bathroom, flushing the toilet with her foot and hitting the faucet on with her hand before sauntering back out again.

Leah snickered, knowing that the now hotter water wouldn't come close to burning wolfskin, but it was the principle of the matter. She tried to get Sims to stay, but one of the Argentine wolves had slipped away from the rest of the Pack and was waiting out in the hall to speak with the younger she-wolf. A little fuzzy-headed from the tea she had made and not willing to walk to the television to change the channel, Leah found herself watching the news in a language she couldn't understand, curled up in a bed she wasn't familiar with. Maybe she could have eaten something if she had been able to keep her eyes open, but it was much too hard.

She slept, and as she slept, Leah Clearwater dreamed.

The fingernail was still slicing down the wall, cutting deeper in the blackness when her eyes opened, her breath caught in her throat. As she lay on her back and watched the ceiling fan turning slowly, ever so slowly, she wondered if anyone had heard her scream.

The room was dark and silent, with only the light creaking of the fan blades overhead, and the glow of a streetlamp stealing through the small gap between the curtains, leaving a pale stripe across the embroidered bedspread where her ankles rested. A long strong body stretched across the bed behind her, with a heavily muscled arm that wrapped around her waist, anchoring her form to his. Skin that smelled of soap and wolf, and warm breath that smelled of mint toothpaste, and faintly of that terrible leaf tea.

He had been in pain, enough to drink what she hadn't finished. She hadn't noticed, but then again he had kept his shirt on and stayed relatively still.

Rolling beneath the weight of his arm, Leah let her eyes drift over the wolf that had imprinted on her. His face rarely softened, even in slumber it was tight and fierce, the handsomeness lost beneath the cool, constant anger that seemed etched into his features. Deeply tanned skin that blended against her own, although more from being in the sun constantly than from natural matching skin tone. He was lighter than her, and as she ran a finger along the edge of a freshly healed cut, one that stretched across his collarbone and must have slashed to the bone, she wondered if he was fully Quileute. Embry wasn't, but his Native American blood ran strong towards his Quileute side, even split between two tribes. She didn't even know who this wolf, this man was. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out, not considered what she and Sims were doing to him.

Light scratches crisscrossed his chest and abdomen, all that were left of wounds still healing. If they had eaten better these last few weeks, there would be no trace left of those cuts by now, for even Leah's shoulder was mostly knitted back together. These wounds, so similar to those her own Pack had given each other before Jake had set down rules about fighting, weren't enough to cause him serious pain.

Something else must have hurt him enough to need to leaf tea, but what it was, Leah couldn't see.

Her fingertips traced down his stomach, palm pressing against the flatness there, and it was only when she stopped at his hipbone that he shifted beneath her touch. Leah could feel his eyes on her now, but she ignored him. This wasn't the first time they'd shared a bed, and she wasn't particularly interested in talking. A nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, a hand running down her spine before coming around and back up.

"Your shoulder," Taye growled a reminder, his low voice growing rougher as her hand played across his hipbone, but he had already began stroking her breasts, finding and kneading the more sensitive flesh.

"Just don't grab it," Leah replied huskily, leaning closer and licking the taut muscles in front of her. "And I'm on top."

She pushed her palms against him, and Taye rolled on his back, chin lowered enough that she didn't have access to his neck. Rough fingers cupped her ass and hauled her where he wanted her. Neither one of them liked allowing the other too much access, so Leah's own chin dropped. He watched while she pulled back and drew her clothing off, the pain in her shoulder blossoming out again. He hadn't bothered to clothe himself in his dirt and blood stained clothes from earlier, coming to her bed nude. He was already hard, harder still when she began rolling her hips over his, enjoying the pressure of his body against hers. His hands squeezed rhythmically over her backside, fingers tracing the curvature of her ass before slipping inside of her teasingly. Leah groaned, rocking back into his hand, thighs tightening at the feeling of him inside her.

He may not have known her, known anything about her at all really, but he knew how to make her moan and arch above him, and he knew how to rub against her just right, just hard enough to have her gasping. She never cried out his name, and he never told her she was beautiful, but when her fingernails dug into his flesh as she trembled, he watched her, eyes half hooded and calm as if she was exactly what he had always expected she should be.

His conceit annoyed her as much as it amused her, and Taye had learned long ago that a good orgasm didn't mean Leah was impressed.

The wolf beneath her waited until her breathing evened out before threading his fingers through her hair and tugging her head downwards, showing her plainly what it was he wanted. His moment of patience was not a normal trait in their…lovemaking?...screwing?...whatever it was that they did. And that moment was the only concession he would make to her injury besides not gripping her shoulder, not even when she worked her way down the path of his stomach muscles, lapping at her own juices on his skin before taking him in her mouth.

He was large enough that she gagged when his hand tightened in her hair, reflexively pulling her down. She growled around him, her teeth scraping his flesh warningly, and Taye grunted, letting her hair go. She sucked him hard then backed off, lightly licking at him, and the wolf beneath her snarled wordlessly, hips coming off the bed.

"Don't you dare tease me, Leah," he growled, hands braced on the headboard so that he didn't grab her head again when she took him in her mouth again. "Not today. Just fucking—" His words cut off into a groan of pleasure, effectively shutting him up.

Leah had patience where Taye didn't, and she drew this out because watching him grunt and curse at her teasing amused her. But Taye snarled when she teased him too much, went too slow, made this last too long. She hissed when he lost that patience he had been holding onto and hauled her back up again, not waiting for her to be ready before wrapping his hands around her waist and slamming her down over his length.

Leah cried out at the pleasure of it, shivered when the pain of her shoulder blended into that pleasure in a way she had never experienced before. Her left hand braced on Taye's broad chest, her right gripping his arm for balance as he groaned at her tightness around him. She tried to set a pace, but he held her in place, hand spanning her ass before gripping her tighter, his fingers sliding between their bodies before he began guiding her hips over his with hard, controlled movements. Each one left her panting at the feel of him inside her, so deep but always needing more.

She was only briefly aware of voices outside the door, and of the sound of footsteps walking away. Instead Leah was lost in the sensation of his body against her own. This was the only part that was easy between them, and even if it was just as much of a contest of wills, it was a contest that they both would benefit from in the end. She could be hard to please and she knew it, was frustrated when it ended too soon. But he could fuck her for hours, if they had hours and her shoulder didn't hurt like this, as long as he didn't have to wait through too much foreplay to get there. He didn't like waiting, wasn't interested in her mouth on him for more than a moment or two. All he cared about was the pressure of flesh against flesh, and repeating the actions that drew the most noises from their throats.

The roughness in his touch was more of a turn on to Leah than the softness she had experienced before him. Maybe it was wolf sex, or maybe it was imprinted wolf sex, or maybe it was just _them_. But it was harsh and it was how they both wanted it, and there wasn't room in their bed for anything gentler.

What Taye felt for her, Leah didn't know, but he took her like he believed he deserved every inch of her, and when she lost her ability to think and move and breathe (she refused to admit that he took her breath away when he was looking at her like that), he growled possessively as she fell apart. Considering the more aggressive thrusting and the low rumbling noise in his throat, Leah realized that she had pushed him nearer to his own release. Taye flipped them, his body hard over hers and hips thrusting with a demanding pace that said shoulder or not, he was finishing this how they both wanted it. Leah's legs clamped around his waist, her hands digging painfully into his buttocks, because she was so close. So close to just one more if he didn't give out first…

Suddenly Leah hissed in pain, the pressure of his weight too much for her healing shoulder. Cursing, the wolf that had imprinted on her pushed himself back, hauling her up and with him. Her legs tightened around his waist as he sat back on his heels, and when he looked at her—

No, she didn't want to know what he looked like when he looked at her.

The angle wasn't as deep as before, not as good as before, but both were close enough now that it didn't matter. Her left arm wrapped around his neck for balance, and Leah let her right arm hang limply at her side as she worked herself until she bit her lip, gasping one last time as she went over the edge. Her strength left her and Leah let her face drop to his shoulder, let his muscles support her instead of her own. Another thrust, another, and it was over. Even though he was taller than her, Taye still bent his head to her breast and shuddered, his length pulsing as he cursed softly into her skin.

Sam had never finished inside her without protection, Jack either, or Embry on their occasional one night stands. Usually Taye pulled out, but not this time. The wet heat that filled her shook her up more than she realized it would. _His_. He had made her his, for whatever that was worth. For a moment she panicked, her breath harsh in his ear, but he was murmuring wordlessly to her. Hands, so rough running soothingly over her sides. Arms, muscled and strong, cradling around her gently. A moment of comfort when she needed it, no pity in his eyes when he held her own.

Silence, her heart beating out of time from his. His chest moving with every breath, his seed dripping down her upper thigh and her arm around his neck. Silence, and a moment that would have meant something if they had been different people.

"This is when I would have killed you," Taye said softly, eyes flickering over her face, one hand drifting to the nape of her neck, palm cradling the back of her head. "When you went limp against me, that's when I would have killed you, Leah. It would have hurt the least."

Leah stiffened, but Taye's hand was already stroking down her back. In contrast to his touch, his voice was cold, so very cold. Mouth near her ear, Taye whispered softly to her, his voice low and filled with a deadly promise. "Tell your Alpha something for me, Leah. Tell her that it almost worked, but I understand now what she was trying to do. So you tell her that I'm not like the rest of my Pack, and I don't follow the old ways. You tell her that if she tries again, it'll be her neck I'll snap next."

Leah felt her hackles rise at the threat, aware of how incredibly stupid she was to allow herself to become so vulnerable.

"It was my idea," Leah snarled, thinking that even with a hurt shoulder, maybe she could stop him if he went after her sister. Taye nodded as if he had known that, and his hand ran over her belly, resting it there. Next to her throat, it was her most vulnerable place on her body, and she tensed again. His muscles were tight, despite the relaxation the sex was supposed to bring, but then his hand dropped down to rest easy on her hip. The dark, sardonic smirk graced his lips again, and the scent of a different kind burned her nostrils.

Shame, and something else. She had hurt him.

"We leave tomorrow," Taye said simply, releasing her so that she could put much needed distance between them. But instead of more threats, Taye rolled over to rest on his back on the bedding. He looked over at her, frowning. "You look like hell, Leah, we probably shouldn't have done that. The Pack is at the campground down the street, and we'll be safe tonight. Go to sleep."

Safe, in a cage less gilded than the last one. Safe, but never the same.

She had hurt her shoulder, reopened the wound with their exertions. His nostrils flared at the scent of blood, and his hand twitched, as if wanting to try and stem the flow, but he let it fall to the bedding. He turned his back to her, and she saw the deep fang marks near his lower back, much too close to his spine. An inch over and Kalísoliyáť could have paralyzed him.

Rolling uncomfortably over onto her side, Leah let her fingertips touch his back, just above the wound, and she whispered softly, "I'm sorry, Taye. But we can't—we _won't_ stay trapped her forever."

"We're all trapped here forever," Taye replied in an exhausted voice, and there was almost a hint of emotion there besides anger, but it slipped away far too soon for her to place it. "We'll fight and we'll die down here and no one will ever know why. Go to sleep, Leah."

She settled down into the bed next to him, wondering if she really would wake up in the morning. Wondering if she should kill him instead, but right now he was the only advantage they had. Wondering…

Leah slept.

* * *

><p>The wolf lay dying on the floor.<p>

There was no saving him. His chest had been ripped open, bathing the floor of the chamber in a slowly spreading pool of blood. His tendons had been cut, very precisely one might add, to make sure he couldn't get up. He had been blinded, because being blind was more than any of the wolves could handle. Blindness meant a terrifying vulnerability. Blindness meant starving to death, dying of thirst, or being killed by another. They had blinded him first, before moving on to other things.

As she sat on her chair, she listened to them lapping at the wolf's body, licking at the wounds in his veins. Many of them, so many that they covered most of his body from her view, should she have chosen to watch them. She chose instead to listen. When one wasn't distracted by the visuals, the sounds were much more…unique.

He was taking a long time to die. He had always been strong that way. One of them slipped past her, fingernail brushing across her hip.

Pain. Pain. Pain.

One of them slipped past her, fingernail brushing across her hip, a scratching pen across her skin.

Paper, crinkling beneath her fingertips.

_They learned quickly to watch what they said—_

* * *

><p>The fan had always woken her, but not this time, not this night. "Leah," the voice snarled in her ear, hands shaking her shoulders. "Dammit, Leah, <em>wake up<em>."

Slowly above her head it rotated, even as Leah turned her face to the wolf next to her, eyes shining in the darkness as she whispered, "I was never asleep."


End file.
